Podcast Transcription

Intro: Welcome to “Flippin’ Off,” a purpose-driven podcast about flipping houses and making a difference.

Melina: Hey, everybody. Melina Boswell here. I hope the music is done playing, and now… it’s so weird when we’re recording podcasts, because you can’t really tell what’s…where we are. And not being in the studio, not having headphones on, and then looking at you guys, we could be recording podcasts forever because of our conversations. And so, welcome to New Wealth Advisors Club podcast, telecast podcast, and Zoom-a-licious. So today, I’ve got… Hey, everybody, just introduce yourselves. I want you to say who you are, and I don’t know…

Christian: Hey, guys. My name’s Christian Rios, I’m glad to be on here.

Oscar: Nobody knew what the start is. I’m Oscar. Hello, everyone.

Melina: What’s your sign?

Tim: I’m Tim. I’m a Virgo.

Frank : Go, John.

John: Hi, John Slater. I am a Cancer.

Frank: Are we doing our astrologic signs? I am…

Melina: Just for fun.

Frank: Oh, okay. I’m Frank Luna, I’m a Capricorn.

Amir: Yeah, go ahead, Mary Anne. I was waiting. Yeah, go ahead.

Mary Anne: Okay, thank you, Amir. I’m Mary Anne Bongco, Sagittarius.

Amir: Hey, guys. My name is Amir, and I’m Aquarius.

Melina: Ooh, that’s right. Okay. So you know, Oscar, should everybody know that you are a Scorpio?

Oscar: Okay, yeah, I guess. I’m a Scorpio.

Melina: You’re not a Scorpio, though, are you?

Oscar: I am, yeah.

Melina: Yeah, you are… you are.

Oscar: I am.

Melina: Totally. All right.

Christian: Big time.

Oscar: I don’t know what that…

Melina: Big time.

Oscar: Whoa, I don’t know what that means. Well, Christian, what are you?

Christian: Virgo.

Melina: He’s a Virgo. Here is why this is important for you guys to know. Let me tell you. Are you ready?

Oscar: Oh, boy.

Melina: Let me just tell you. This is… Actually, your birth month is dependent…that actually tells how dramatic you are. Isn’t that interesting? Yeah. So let’s see. Amir, your birthday is in February or January?

Amir: February.

Melina: That’s right.

Amir: …

Melina: Oh, yeah. Well, so… Well, just so everybody knows, your percentage of drama is 99.5% drama.

Frank: I almost could have guessed that.

Oscar: Agreed.

Melina: Wait, Tim. Your birthday is in…

Tim: May.

Melina: Yeah. So you’re only two percent drama. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Oscar: He’s also a hermit.

Melina: So Oscar… We’ll save Oscar for last. Johnny.

John: July.

Melina: No, say it isn’t so.

John: It is so.

Melina: Yeah, it is so. So you’re only 20%…26% drama.

John: Maybe I was born a different month, and I just didn’t know.

Melina: I don’t know. Mary Anne, your birthday is when?

Mary Anne: December.

Melina: Mm-hmm. Are you ready?…You are 100% drama.

Mary Anne: Damn, you little…

Melina: Christian. Christian’s birthday is in September. Christian, guess how much drama we are. Are you ready?

Christian: Seventy.

Melina: No.

Christian: No? Zero?

Melina: We’re zero. We are zero percent drama. Yes, yes, yes.

Frank: That must make me, like, 110%.

Melina: Yeah. And so, Frank was born in January. And so, Frank is 50% drama. Yeah.

Frank: Yeah, that sounds right. I think that’s accurate.

Melina: And Oscar, being born in November, is infinite drama. He is infinite drama. All right, so…

Oscar: That was obviously written by somebody who dislikes Scorpios…

Tim: Oscar, let me tell you…

Oscar: Must have been somebody in September.

Tim: Let me tell you, I’ve got the original post.

Christian: Her husband is Scorpio.

Tim: I’ll just tell you, Oscar, I’ve got the original post. I would doubt the sources, if I were you.

Oscar: Well, it’s obviously written by somebody from September. I mean, it’s… They’re zero.

Mary Anne: I agree. I agree.

Frank: Melina wrote this thing. So I man zero percent drama. Melina wrote it.

Melina: Melina did not. May is only two percent.

Frank: Is that something like one of those chain letters on social media…?

Melina: I don’t know. No, this is factual stuff. And August is only five percent drama. So, you know, yeah. Interesting, right? All right, anyway. So just a little fun to start the day off today. As we begin to delve into the newest class that NWAC is offering… And I think it’s important to talk about it, I think it’s going to be fun to talk about. And I’m really, really excited at the opportunity that people are going to be able to have, in joining our entrepreneurship bootcamp. So I was kind of… We were thinking about different names. And first, we were calling it the “Accountability Bootcamp.” And we created it to help people with accountability. And what we learned is that accountability is absolutely vital. But it’s almost as though accountability is a… Maybe it’s… And this is maybe… My perspective is… And I’d like to hear you guys’ input in this thought process. But I feel like accountability is a leg, if you will, of entrepreneurship. It might even be the backbone of entrepreneurship. But ultimately, what we did in our bootcamp is, we came to the revelation that people don’t know what it really means to be an entrepreneur. Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur, and we’re in the age of entrepreneurship going like crazy. And people have some…maybe false expectations, or maybe even, dare I say, a little naïve thought processes around what it means to be an entrepreneur. And so, for me, I think accountability is a big piece of being an entrepreneur. But it’s like, if the umbrella is indeed entrepreneurship, accountability could be a leg of it, right, or one of the little pillars. So I think we came up with the broader idea of what entrepreneurship means and all that that entails. And so, what do you guys think about that? Do you think accountability…? Does that make sense to you, or…? What are your thoughts. Whoever wants to share first. Tim, go.

Tim: I agree with that totally. And you know, it’s crazy. I was thinking the other day… Actually, I was having a conversation with Josh the other day. And I think… Something that I know I experienced…and it’s something that I think a lot of people, if not everybody experiences, is the different…the shift in mindset from, like, a W-2 employee to having a job. Well, we say it all the time. We say, “You have to treat your business like a job.” But when it comes down to it, a lot of times, we don’t know what that means, exactly. We have accountability, but to start it out with, accountability to what? I don’t even know what to do when I first started this business. When I used to go to my job, I had to be there at 8:00, I left at 5:00. And when I got there and they hired me, they told me, “This is what you do between 8:00 and 5:00. And you take your breaks at this time,” and all of these things. And then, all of a sudden, I had this freedom to work my business like a business, but nobody there to tell me, “Do your business at this time, do this at this time, take your breaks at this time, and actually work this business like a business.” And to me, that was a big missing piece of learning how to be an actual business owner in entrepreneurship. And accountability was definitely a part of it, but again, accountability to what? I didn’t even know what to do, really.

Melina: That’s great. That’s good. So good. I think that is exactly right. I think one of the most… One of… This is a funny thing. But I remember early, early on, when I… You know, I look back at my own professional career, and over the last 30 years, how I’ve worked for people. And I’ve been in… And I mean, I started out in my career right out of college as a…like, an assistant, a legal assistant to an attorney. And I mean, I did, like… It was the proverbial job where I was the legal assistant. But I was also the kid picker-upper, the dry-clean dropper-offer and picker-upper, took his car to get washed, all of those things, right? And so, that was like, I started there, doing everything, making all that stuff… So very, very… Doing all of that. And then, at some point, got a skill set, and then at some point, opened up my own business. And I just remember when I opened up my own paralegal business… And this was in the late 80s, maybe, early 90s. God, I’m old. Anyway. But somebody asked me this question, and I feel like it might have been my dad. My dad might have asked… Because I was working from home. And I placed an ad in the paper, and I started doing paralegal work on the side, if you will. This is when I really got a taste of entrepreneurship. And my dad asked me this question, “Well, what hours of operation is your…” and my dad air-quotes, “business” is open?” What are your hours of operation, Melina?” I think it was my Dad that asked me that. And I remember going, “Hmm, that’s a very good question.” And so, I think that, for me, was one of the… And I can look back on my career and go, “That was a pivotal moment for me that I had to decide, what were my hours of operation for my business?” And I had to choose that, meaning… You know, and I think the real question was, “Are you really going to work your business? Are you going to do it every single day? Are you…?” Like, he was saying to me, “You’ve got to open up every day. You’ve got to go to work every day.” And so typical…in typical fashion of my dad, kind of giving me a little bit of a kick in the butt by posing questions to me which really stuck with me. And I think that’s a great question, and it just reminded me of that when you said that, Tim. So who else? What do you think?

Oscar: Well, the thing that you said earlier was, people don’t have a good idea of what entrepreneurship really is. And yesterday when we were talking through our training, one of the things… Or over the weekend, anyways. One of the things I said is that I believe that people are passionate about something. And they say, “Oh, I’m passionate about real estate,” or, “I’m passionate about sales,” or, “I’m passionate…” And that passion isn’t really… I don’t believe this is exactly what they’re passionate about. It’s more like, “I think I’m passionate about that. But I hear that you can make a lot of money in that.” And then, I’m sold the dream on that. And so, I walk in almost with my eyes wide shut kind of thing, where I think they’re opened up to the greatness and all the things that can happen. But they’re shut, because, I really don’t know what I’m walking into. But I’m so excited about it that I ignore it.

Melina: That’s so good. That’s so good. Well, you know, we’ve been talking about the bootcamp and basing it on the entrepreneurial rollercoaster. And that is the foundation of where we’re going to take the bootcamp, and the rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship. The ups and the downs, and talking about how 95% of what you do as an entrepreneur sucks. I know nobody wants to talk about that. But the truth is that you think about your professional career as a rollercoaster, like, who doesn’t want to have…? Who doesn’t want to ride the rollercoaster? The rollercoaster is so much fun. But it’s the… I was likening it earlier to a…you know, if the process is like waiting in line. If the 95% of the rollercoaster ride and entrepreneurship is waiting in line… Like, if you’re at the… I always think about Disneyland, right? And I think the best rollercoaster ever is California Screaming, although they… Did they change the name of that? It’s a different name now. What’s it called now?

Christian: That’s the Incredibles one.

Melina: Oh, that’s right. Incredicoaster. That’s what it is. So I think Incredicoaster… it’s the funnest rollercoaster. And so, we were talking about this, Christian, about maybe the 95% is actually waiting in the lines, going in and out of the long lines. And then, Christian had a really interesting perspective about that. So maybe you can share about that.

Christian: Yeah, so my perspective… Because I agree. I think the 95% of business is, like, the not-sexy… And what I tie it to, now that I’m piecing everything together, that 95% is the money-making activities that you have to do, the 5% is when you reap the rewards. But the door-knockings, the prospecting, the meetings, it’s… Really, they’re not fun, they’re not that sexy, but they do produce the results. So what we’re talking about is… Let’s say that 95% is, you’re waiting in line. You could have different perspectives on that, even 95%, too. For me, if we’re at Disneyland and we’re waiting in line for that Incredicoaster, it depends who I’m in line with. Is it going to be fun? For you guys here on this call, you guys are my team. I love being on the ride with you guys, going through the ups and the downs. If I was with another group, that 95%…or that waiting in line would probably suck, and I’d want to get out yesterday. So that’s how I thought of it. Or even the weather, if you’re at Disneyland and it’s freaking 95 degrees in line, that sucks. If it’s 75, you can tolerate it a little bit more. So that’s kind of my perspective. And just talking about this more, too, there’s different rollercoasters. Some are scarier than others. And there’s other businesses. And for me, I think the vehicle we chose…the rollercoaster we chose of real estate, it’s kind of like Indiana Jones. I love it. It’s not too many drops, but it’s a fun ride to go on. So…

Melina: It’s adventurous.

Christian: What’s that?

Melina: It’s adventurous.

Christian: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Melina: I like it. I love that you’re coming up with an idea of what ride real estate is for us, or NWAC, right? Because there’s more to it than just real estate for us. Because we have the club, and we have training, we have coaching, and running and putting on everything that we do. That is another level. It’s like another layer of owning a business, running a business, and how that is very, very different now. So…

John: What is it you said, Christian? Earlier, you said that New Wealth Advisors Club is, like, the fast pass, or something like that.

Christian: Oh, I was saying… So I guess… Sometimes, it sucks, too, when you do have success. And you get a glimpse of that, maybe, for people that joined the club a little bit sooner versus having no work for it. And I know John talks about it. He had to grind get his first deal. And I was like, “Man, I kind of feel like sometimes when you get a fast past and you’re at Disneyland, you’re like, “Yes, I’m a boss. I’m going straight to the front of the line.” But then, when you don’t have a Fastpass and you have to wait two hours, you’re like, “Man, this sucks.” So there’s those times where you have to ride out the journey. And then sometimes, you are going to get that glimpse that things are going to come a little bit easier. But regardless, you’re still going to go on the same ride.

Melina: That’s good. That’s really good. So when we talk about the bootcamp… And we were talking about what that’s…what we’re really going to dig into, what is the intention. And you know, I’ve done… I feel like I’ve been through so many coaching programs, so many “bootcamps,” and for different things. And I’m a big fan of continuing education, of pushing yourself. And every opportunity I can get to push myself professionally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, whatever, with people that I have respect for, I’m all over it. I think… I was thinking back to my…about myself, in the last two years, the amount of time and money and energy I’ve put into my own personal journey, my own personal growth, both spiritually, emotionally, financially, professionally. I’ve spent a lot of… I’ve invested a lot of time and money in myself, to be able to grow to become stronger, more self-aware, more visionary, thinking like, if you go outside the proverbial box, that I don’t want to sit in the box anymore. And I think that… And you know, I always have this thing, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” but you know, it’s true. There is nothing new under the sun. But man, isn’t it interesting that you can be 3,000 miles apart, and you get a different perspective of the sun, don’t you? So what the sun looks like in California versus what the sun looks like in Hawaii, even, it’s different. It’s different. There’s nothing new under the sun, but man, you can sure have a perspective shift. You see a sunset in Florida versus a sunset in California, it’s entirely different. Same sun, but entirely different. And I think it’s just perspective. And so, as I was…we were talking about the entrepreneur bootcamp, and what do we do with that, reading this book that we are basing the bootcamp off of has been really fantastic for me, personally. I’m kind of shocked. To be totally honest with you, I’m like, “Wow, I know all these things.” But sometimes, just reading something, hearing it in a new way, in new circumstances, shifts your perspective, and then gives you the opportunity to have “aha” moments, to have breakthroughs. And I think the thing that is still shocking to me is that even talking through it, I have a, “Ooh, a breakthrough. Wow, a little breakthrough. That’s awesome.” You know, something that is crazy for me that I missed is the definition of success. And we talk about it all the time during our trainings. But it’s not so much that we talk about the definition of success, we talk about financial freedom. And isn’t that interesting? Because people come to the club and they invest in real estate, or they want to become real-estate investors, because they are… It’s always a financial conversation and they want money. And so, we always do the, “Why are you here?” “Oh, we want financial freedom.” So we spend a lot of time talking about financial freedom and identifying… We don’t talk about identifying success as much. And I actually believe that identifying success is probably more of a…it’s more of a difficult question to answer or to identify. So I’m just curious. Out of you guys here, who knows…? Like, have you guys ever do know what success is? Have you written it down, or have you thought through it, and are you kind of clear? Do you have no clarity, do you have some? Who wants to share? Who’s willing to share?

John: I’ll share. I think… So I had a big reflection, a big conversation with myself and also with Celine a couple weeks ago, where you have an idea of success as an entrepreneur, surrounding our business. And then, coming to, for me, a realization that there’s a different level of entrepreneur in my mind when I think about where I want to…what it is I wanted to achieve, and where it is I really think I’m going to achieve, in the sense of… Not the level of business, how big can this business grow. But more, a…how big can I grow, as an individual? Because I am…I’m working hard to be an entrepreneur, because it comes more natural for me to be an employee. I mean, that’s a simple fact. So I am an entrepreneur because I run my own business. And I’ve been full-time in the business for the last four years, and I’m doing okay. But I’m also not… I don’t have the mindset of somebody like Elon Musk. I don’t know who he surrounds himself by, but I ain’t ever going to get to that entrepreneur status, and I’m okay with that. But I think, to some degree, nobody ever thought he was going to be that big. But I wanted to believe that I could take my business to this, to this, to this, to this.

Christian: Hi, this is Christian Rios. As many of you know, I have been a member of New Wealth Advisors Club for over seven years, and got started when I was 17 years old, with absolutely no real-estate experience. One of the biggest lessons I have learned from being in the industry is the need for authentic relationships. If you’re looking for an actual team locally in southern California, with all the resources needed to close deals, register for one of our free workshops by visiting www.joinnwac.com. Thanks for listening to the “Flippin’ Off” podcast.

John: You know, I wanted to believe I could take my business to this, to this, to this. And actually, I’m okay with this, but I need somebody else who’s going to help now, take it to that level, which is still a form of accountability. You know, whether it’s a more forward-thinking… I’m not a forward thinker like that. I’m a “look at it, analyze it, go do it.” And that’s okay. But I’m not a… I’m not going to reinvent the light bulb, that is for sure. Just not my brainpower. So that’s kind of where I was at the last couple of weeks, looking at what actually is the success that I’m looking to achieve. And then, now, how do I get whatever else I need to help me reach a different level of success, if I so choose? And that’s where I want to go.

Melina: Very good. Very good.

John: And I’m still talking to myself about it, and I haven’t got there yet. So…

Melina: Interesting. It’s going to be fun, going through this with you.

John: Mm-hmm, absolutely. And it is… I mean, it still comes down to a level of accountability. If I use Seline as an example and said, “I’m more of a doer, she’s more of a thinker,” well, she’s been trying to do, whereas maybe she should just be the thinker. So when we were talking to Amir about some real-estate stuff we were looking at working on together, I almost wanted to say, “Look, you and Amir meet, just leave me out of it. Just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll go it.” That kind of attitude. But…

Melina: That’s actually fine. I think that is getting really clear on your own strengths and then executing. The executive function is a big deal.

John: But I think a mind block for the last couple of years was thinking that “entrepreneur” isn’t just… One word just doesn’t fit. There are so many facets of being an entrepreneur. And you call yourself an entrepreneur, and yes, because I’ve done X, Y, and Z. But then, you’ve got Elon Musk entrepreneur who has done A through Z, backwards, forwards, and round again and again and again. And so… But I’m clear on that now. Or I’m getting clearer, should I say. So definitely still need that accountability, though, which, either way you spin it, you still need it.

Melina: Yeah. Yeah, totally right. Good.

Tim: I can share…

Melina: Yeah, please.

Tim: So I can relate to what John was saying right now. I can really… It’s so true, and it’s… To me, first of all, it goes back to how we individually define success for ourselves, because it looks different for each person. But what… One little breakthrough I’m having right now is… And it’s connected to what everybody were saying, Christian and Tim. It’s the relationship between entrepreneurship and accountability, and how entrepreneurship… There is so much in accountability…rooted in accountability, when it relates to entrepreneurship, how important that is. And it’s… I’m always trying to find the irony, or the…what’s the other side of it. And here’s how it shows up for me right now. Entrepreneurship, it’s such a…it can be such an individual, lonely kind of journey, almost. Like, there is just… There is a lot that you need to go through with yourself. It’s like, it’s the battle with your own mind, a lot of times, when accountability is… At least for me, because that can be… A lot of people can be accountable to themselves. To me, accountability has a lot to do with other people and with the team around you. So it’s like, “Man, that’s so important.” When Christian was saying about, just standing in line with your team looks very different than… You know, it’s like… It’s so true. That’s just, to me, where everything… It’s just funny to me, how it’s an individual game. And at the same time, how is it a team game that you need to play when you’re trying to develop your own business.

Melina: That’s so good.

John: Is that a difference between…I want to say, a big entrepreneur and a small entrepreneur, to say individual accountability is what could separate somebody from somebody that still needs some kind of team accountability, from actually going off and…? Can the real, successful entrepreneur…? Are they that successful because they hold themselves accountable in100% ways, rather than the feeling of, “I need to be accountable.” Well, does that help you to become self-accountable, eventually? Is that…?

Melina: Yeah. Well, I mean, I can just tell you what it is for me, how it shows up for me. Because this is the conversation, if there is only a way I can get people to understand this and to live it, people… They oftentimes think that I’m so strong, and I’m really not. But for me, accountability, it’s way easier for me to be accountable to other people, than it is to myself, way easier. And I actually believe that’s the truth with most of us. That’s why having a coach is so valuable, because you will quit on yourself way before you will quit on your coach. You’ll not show up for you, but you… When you think about… That’s why I’m always telling people, “You’ve got to get clear on your “why” power,” because your “why” power is really what’s going to be accountability. At least it is for me. I think about the people that are depending on me. And that’s what keeps me going, that’s where my accountability shows up. The truth is, if I was just going to be accountable to myself and it was only just about me, I wouldn’t be living a big life. I’d be living a very, very vanilla, mediocre life. That’s the truth. I believe that I live an extraordinary life because I’m committed to other people, period. And I think that is the very thing that most people miss, most people. And that’s why I share, “Hey, don’t be… Your “why” shouldn’t be your kids,” I just know that’s not the truth, because guess what? Your kids are going to be fed. You’re going to make sure your kids eat. That is what you’re going to do, that is your nature. That’s not extraordinary, unfortunately. I don’t think that’s extraordinary, I don’t think that is… I think that is a baseline, make sure your family gets fed and housed. That’s baseline stuff, man. Like, what? And that’s okay, if that’s where people want to be. But don’t pretend that you want to be an entrepreneur and you want to live this life, and that it’s really, you’re doing it for… If you don’t get clear that it’s not all about you, and you don’t get clear on the “why” for real, then you will quit. That’s why people quit. And there are so many times that I want to stay in bed, and I don’t want to get out of bed, and I… But I just always think about the people that are depending on me, whether they know they’re depending on me or not. But I’ve put myself…I’ve positioned myself in a position where people are dependent on me. And I know that, and I continuously put myself there, which is kind of annoying, to be honest with you. It’s annoying, I’d prefer… It’s like the never-ending conversation in my mind, of, “I would so much rather shrink… I just would so much rather shrink and just make it about me and my little family, and then just live my little life for me and my little family, and that would be great.” But I don’t believe you can shrink. And I think that when people say they’re about other things, guess when the rubber meets the road? People say, “Oh, my “why” is this,” “My “why” is that.” The truth is that that actually gets tested, over and over and over when the… It gets hard. You know when it gets hard? When you’re living in the 95% of it sucking. That’s the reality. And so, I’m constantly challenging people to, “Get clear on your why.” And I always tell people, “It’s got to be more than you.” You will quit on you, you’ll quit on your kids and your family. You won’t quit on them in a way that you’re not going to make sure they get fed, but… You know, there is a story that…a question that Darren Hardy asks. And it is, imagine yourself 20, 30, 40 years from now. And you have your great-granddaughter sitting on your knee, and you’re bouncing her, and she says, “wow, how did we get here?” And so, I think that now is the time. I think right now is, we are positioned as a country for opportunity, opportunity, opportunity. And so, what is your life going to look like in 20, 30, 40 years? You know your kids are going to be fed, big deal. What did you actually do? What did you do that made an impact? So… And I shared a little bit, that I was going to talk about my why, and I’ve been really writing about it. And I can remember the exact moment that I was clear on my why and my idea of success. So, anyway. Mary Anne, you were going to share.

Mary Anne: Yeah. Actually, I was going to share about what you just said about Dan Hardy, talking about what it looks like…your life looks like 20, 30, 40 years from now, and looking at your grandchild. And I’m praying that my kids will give me grandchildren, because they said they would. But…you know. And then, going back to…

Melina: They may be adopted.

Mary Anne: I know, right?…

Melina: That’s okay.

Mary Anne: And you talked about the success, what does that look like for you. And I mentioned at our Motivation Monday this morning, was that that’s a conversation Joel and I keep having. And then, maybe because it’s in front of us now, with the three kids being done with high school and Lauren being the last one, what does success mean for us? And what kept coming up for us is, it used to be that…the big house and the Escalade and the Porsche. You know, all that. And funny, Joel brought it up last night that we’re reliving our lives through Christian, right? Christian…and…

Melina: Yes.

Mary Anne: And then, we’re… Joel was like, “You remember those days that used to tickle our fancy and get us all motivated in the morning?” I was like, “That’s okay. We’ve done that. Now, we’ll just live it through Christian now.”

Melina: Yeah, because he’s building his pool.

Mary Anne: Yeah. And then, going in there, and then taking… Oh, I mean… Anyway. So that’s not…

Melina: Great.

Mary Anne: Yeah. It’s important for… I mean, I love the fact that, Christian, the life you’re living is just so awesome. And women your age should look at you and say, “I want that.” But Joel and I are in our 50s, so success looks a lot different now. And it’s that 20 to 30, 40 years with your grandchildren or your adopted grandchildren, or in our situation, …and our grandchildren, right? And so, it goes back to the Dan Hardy…the blue house. Remember that, in a…? So we always talk about that. It’s the “blue house” experience. And I might not make sense to people out there, but it’s…It really… Success for Joel and I is about the experience. And the experience, what does that look like? And it could mean anything. But being able to have the freedom to experience that and not have to worry about the money and the financial, to me, is success. And I love the fact that you said, it’s got to be bigger than you and the commitment to people that you give. I think for me… Someone relying on you because you’re committed, to me, that’s success.

Melina: Amen.

Mary Anne: Because when was the last time anybody ever relied on you but your kids? Now, you’ve got all the people that look up to you, call you and ask you stuff, “Well, what do you think about this?” And to me, that’s success, because who would have thought somebody would be calling Mary Anne, honestly? Little old me, Mary Anne here. And by the way, I’m not going to admit to this, but I get what you said about the December being a drama. Because it’s not about you being a drama queen. It is… I get it. Oscar, I can’t speak for your infinity, infinite drama. That’s all on you, dude, but I get what you said…what it means. Initially, I was like, “What? I’m not no drama queen. What the freak,” right? But I get it. I get it. I get it. I get what that means, for me. So… But yeah. So that was my version of what success is, in the space I’m in now, my current life. Twenty, 30, 40… You know, when I was 20 or 30, it was different. You can kind of say I grew up.

Melina: Yeah. That was so funny. Thank you.

Mary Anne: Thank you.

Melina: Yeah. Christian? What were you going to say?

Christian: Yeah, no. So for me, I just… I love this whole conversation, and I agree with what you guys are saying. And specifically, I think it ties in with John’s point. And if we just… Like, for me, if I simplify it and just define success as doing all you can do. Doing all you can do. If someone’s a janitor and they’re making $50,000 a year and that’s all they can do, they’re a success. They’re 1000% a success. So for me now… It’s honestly, it’s… Like Mary Anne, too, I love choices, and I love… I know the idea of freedom, it’s just an idea and it’s so elusive. But I love being able to have opportunities come to me, and then be able to take advantage of those opportunities as well. And I think that’s…that was what you were talking about today, also, and…in the motivation Monday. So yeah, no. I think, doing all you can do. And then, going back to what John was saying, different entrepreneurs, different levels, it goes back to different rollercoasters. You brought up Elon Musk. That dude probably is willing to go on the craziest six-flags rollercoaster, where I’m not willing to go on them. I think it’s…

Melina: He probably is like, “Ah…”

Christian: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think his story is like, he made millions, and then he just invested it all again in different companies, in Tesla, SpaceX, all that stuff, where we might be like, “Okay, we have a couple million. Let me play it safe a little bit now.” But that dude’s like, “Let’s go. Let’s keep riding all these rollercoasters.” So I think it’s different. Different entrepreneurs are willing to go on different rollercoasters, and we have to be aware of that.

Melina: Good. So good, yeah. Hi, Frank.

Frank: So listening to everybody. And I was thinking, like… I can… Everything that everybody said, I can then go, “Yeah.” When I started this business in 2009, I had a goal. It was to be in real estate for a year. And so, check. And I was thinking, through all the process of… I never ever actually said… I set goals, but I never said, “I’m going to be successful.” And I never remembered… I remember reading “Success” magazine, and you see what you think success looks like, outside of what you’re doing within yourself. And I never really considered myself successful. I never said, “Oh, I’m successful.” So I was thinking about it, and I go, “Well…” in my mind, “If I’m not successful…” or, “I am successful, what’s the opposite of success?” And it’s not just failure. What came to me was settling for… Something that stuck out to me. Settling is the opposite of success. And I was thinking, “Well, how do you not settle, and how do you be successful?” And I was just thinking about, we all have daily goals, we have monthly, yearly goals. And it’s all about growth for me, thinking about, if I want to actually define success, because I never really tried to. And I never tried to be successful. I never said I was going to be successful when I set out to do this. I wanted to be a business owner, I wanted to be… And then, I started learning about entrepreneurship. And my biggest successes that I feel, that I…that stick out the most is truly, every time I made a difference to someone’s life, period. Because I want to say, my kids, I made a difference in their life when they were born, and I continue to be here. But in their age right now, for me, success with them is them now paying it forward to help me, help my wife, and help others. That’s what I consider now, looking at that. And every day, I think being successful is making a difference in somebody’s life in some way, shape, or form, if it’s an encouraging word, or helping them to reach a goal of theirs that they feel stuck on. And that really… That’s what stuck out for me. It’s like, I don’t want to settle, and I don’t want to see other people settle. And I think we talked about last time, the gifts that we’ve been given, and those things that God equips us with. And not utilizing those things to the fullest of what they could be used for is, to me, settling. And I’d say somebody having a job for a certain amount of time and retiring, that’s a goal. But did you make a difference in anybody’s life, other than, like you mentioned, “Okay, I put food on the table, and I paid off a house?” I wouldn’t… I feel like, for me, that would be settling, you know? But if you’re the first person in your family to have a job that consistently and be responsible, then that might look like success. But I think, for me, it’s not letting people settle, and not letting myself settle.

Melina: I love it.

Frank: That’s what I think success is.

Melina: I so love that. I love that, “don’t settle.” That’s good. That’s really good. Awesome. I think that for me, I’m excited about starting the bootcamp not only for our students that are going to be joining us, but also just for us. I think we’re all going to be challenged through this, because we’re going to dig deep. And I have this distinct feeling that the more we…however often… I don’t know, we’ll see how often we end up doing the bootcamp. But I think that through each time we do it, we’re going to, like usual, learn the most…it’s always that way, and grow the most and learn the most about ourselves and each other. And I’m excited by that. I’m excited at the idea of going through this with you guys, going through it with our students, and learning more about them. And it’s the idea of the real mirror, us being able to look at ourselves in the mirror, and using each other as the mirror to grow and to evolve, if you will. So Oscar, did you have anything you wanted to add? Because I think we should… I think we’re probably at time, you know, whatever that is.

Oscar: We’re pretty close to it, yeah. I think that the thing that people should know about this bootcamp is that… You mentioned the book, right? And there are some things that we’re going to associate with the book. And you mentioned, also that we’re also going to bring our take into it, and we’re going to add all these things, and it’s going to make…fit into our business models, there’s a lot of accountability, all that stuff. And I think, like everything we do, it’s going…there’s going to be a big role that all the attendees will play in this. And that is actually going to dictate the journey that happens inside of those 10 weeks, because every room is going to be so different, the dynamics are going to be different. So for those of you that are out there thinking, “Man, is this for me? Is this not for me?” It’s for you if you’re willing to go through it. It’s for you if you’re looking to really, truly change your life and other people’s lives, because it becomes a ripple effect. And it’s absolutely for you if you’re willing to step into the fire.

Melina: Whoo.

Oscar: You’ll come out nice and shiny and sparkly after that, right, because it’s going to stretch you. It’s absolutely going to stretch all of us, like you just said. And if it’s going to stretch us, by golly, we’re going to stretch you.

Melina: What do they say, “The stuff rolls downhill,” yeah?

Oscar: Yeah, yeah…

Christian: It’s leveling up your association. I remember when we first would do the bootcamps, I was like, “Oh, man. I can’t believe I’m in the same room with Dave and Melina.” And they’re pouring in, right? So just think like that, where you start growing your association. And your mind starts to think different, because your circle…the different circles at different tables are different. So that’s my little encouragement to those that are listening.

Oscar: My add into that, Christian…it just hit me when you were saying that, is, every participant is going to be stepping into roughly 100 years-plus of entrepreneurial experience when they’re dealing with us. And then, who knows how many other years of experience and hours of experience are going to be coming into the room, right, with that? So I think there’s going to be this powerful mind-mapping stuff that’s going to happen. And there’s going to be some powerful, just, energy that’s going to really shift everyone’s idea of what entrepreneurship really is versus the hype that everybody gets sold.

Melina: Man… the truth. So good. So good. That’s awesome. All right, guys. Well, hey, thanks so much for taking the time today. To our listeners, time to level up, huh? Seize the moment. It’s decision time, it’s go time, and time to level up. And I’m excited for you, so I’m excited to get on the rollercoaster. So until then, we are NWAC, and we’re clicking off.

Melina: I’m Melina Boswell, your host of the “Flippin’ Off” podcast. I really hope you enjoyed it. If you did, we’d love for you to subscribe, give us a five-star rating, and tell your friends all about us. You can find more episodes of the “Flippin’ Off” podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stichr, or wherever else you like to listen to awesome podcasts like this. If you like what you’ve heard, we’d really appreciate it if you’d follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and tell us the stories that you’d like to hear.

Tim Jackson is our senior producer. Luke Jackson is our editor. Brothers. Josh Mauldin is our producer. Sound designed by Frequency Factory. Our executive producer is Mind & Mill. This was all created by Dave Boswell for New Wealth Advisors Club.